Expert panel to lead TDSB consultations

Archived
Backgrounder

Expert panel to lead TDSB consultations

Ontario has appointed an expert panel composed of seven members to lead the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) consultation process. The panel will consult with the TDSB community and make recommendations to the Minister of Education on how to improve the governance structure at TDSB. The panel will lead up to 20 public consultations between March and May 2015.

Barbara Hall (Chair)

Ms. Hall has more than 40 years of experience as a community worker, lawyer and municipal politician. She served three terms as a Toronto city councillor from 1985 on and as Toronto's mayor from 1994 to 1997. From 1998 to 2002, she headed the federal government's national strategy on community safety and crime prevention. She was chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission from 2005 until February 2015.

Ms. Hall has also practised criminal and family law, been a member of the Province of Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care health results team, and lectured nationally and internationally on urban and social issues. She has extensive experience on non-profit boards and committees, and has a strong record of bringing diverse groups together to build safe and strong communities.

Dr. Vicki Bismilla

Dr. Bismilla is the former vice-president, academic, and chief learning officer at Centennial College (2005 - 2012), and a former teacher, principal and superintendent of education with the previous Scarborough Board of Education, the Toronto District School Board and the York Region District School Board (1972 - 2005).

Dr. Bismilla was involved in the creation of 20 equity programs and committees for the York Region District School Board that address a range of equity issues including racism, homophobia, classism and diversity hiring practices. She initiated the province-wide equity committee for supervisory officers from school boards across Ontario and taught the supervisory officer qualification program.

She won the Province of Ontario volunteer service award in 1998 for her years of volunteer service including serving as president of the board of directors for the Scarborough Women's Centre. Since 2010 to the present, she has served on the Ontario Ministry of Education's Curriculum Council.

Patrick Case

Mr. Case, LL.B. LL.M, is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Guelph and he is the current chair of the board of Ontario's Human Rights Legal Support Centre. Mr. Case is an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and the director of the Osgoode Hall Law School Certificate Program in Human Rights Theory and Practice. Mr. Case is also a member of the board of Facing History and Ourselves, an organization that helps educators worldwide link the past to moral choices today.

From 1979 to 1985, Mr. Case was a school trustee with the former Toronto Board of Education and from 1989 to 1999 he was an equity advisor with the same board. From 1999 to 2009, Mr. Case was the director of the Human Rights and Equity Office of the University of Guelph. From 2006 to 2010, he held an appointment as a Commissioner at the Ontario Human Rights Commission. He has been a trade unionist, a school trustee and a practitioner whose chief focus was serving women who were victims of male violence. Mr. Case has served as a staff lawyer in the family law division at Parkdale Community Legal Services. He is a past chair of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, which was created as a part of the federal government's redress agreement with Japanese Canadians and has been a co-chair of the equality rights panel of the Court Challenges Program of Canada.

Briony Glassco

Ms. Glassco is a former trustee for Ward 10 and served from August - November 2014. Before serving as trustee, Ms. Glassco was a member of several TDSB advisory groups including the parent involvement advisory committee, the inner-city advisory committee and her community and local parent councils. As a parent, she has worked to improve communication between parents and schools, trustees and the school board. In 2013, she served on an advisory committee reviewing the TDSB's community advisory committees and has run workshops with many school and ward councils on effective communication and meeting practice.

As a communication skills coach, Ms. Glassco has developed innovative programs and exercises for both young people and adults to help them with their communication skills. Ms. Glassco is a board member of the Walter & Duncan Gordon Foundation, a philanthropic foundation promoting innovative public policies for the north and fresh water management and Playwrights Workshop Montreal.

Shirley Hoy

Ms. Hoy started her career in municipal public service in 1980 with the former Metro Toronto government, where she held various positions, including general manager of administration/corporate secretary, at Exhibition Place, and executive director in the Metro Chairman's Office.

Between 1991 to the end of 1995, Ms. Hoy worked in the Ontario government as assistant deputy minister in three ministries - Ontario Women's Directorate, Ministry of Community & Social Services, and the joint position of ADM of operations, and CEO of the Ontario Housing Corporation, in the Ministry of Housing. In 1996, she returned to Metro Toronto, as the commissioner of community services. Following amalgamation, Ms. Hoy was appointed the commissioner of community and neighbourhood services department, and from 2001 to 2008 she served a city manager for the City of Toronto.

From 2009 to January 2014, Ms. Hoy completed a five-year term with the Toronto Lands Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Toronto District School Board, responsible for managing and disposing of surplus school properties.

With respect to community and volunteer activities, Ms. Hoy is currently vice-chair of the Governing Council of University of Toronto, and a member of the board of trustees of United Way Toronto. In the last five years, she has also served on the board of the Ontario Lottery & Gaming Corporation, and the board of regents of Victoria University, U of T.

Richard Powers

Mr. Powers is the national academic director, directors education program and governance essentials program at the Rotman School of Management. He recently completed a five-year term as the associate dean and executive director of the Rotman Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Finance programs. Mr. Powers' areas of expertise include corporate governance, ethics, business and corporate law. He also teaches in Rotman's Executive MBA, Omnium Global MBA and executive education programs.

Mr. Powers is a director of several not-for-profit organizations and frequently comments on legal and governance issues in various media across Canada. He currently sits on the following boards: Commonwealth Games Canada (president); Rugby Canada (COC representative); CIS eLearning Consortium (chair of governance committee) and Childhood Cancer Canada.

Jennifer Williams

Ms. Williams is a third-year student at Queen's University in the health studies and life sciences programs. She is a former TDSB student trustee (2010-2012) and was active in the board's strategic planning and in developing policies around electronic device use, student leadership, and student activity fees. She was also involved in planning and executing student leadership events and retreats geared towards grades 7-12 students. As president of the Ontario Student Trustees' Association (2011-2012), Ms. Williams co-authored the Mental Health Charter of Rights for students and forged greater links among and between student trustees and other student leaders across Ontario.

Ms. Williams is active in student affairs and initiatives supporting prospective and first-year undergraduates and academically at-risk students, and has for the last three years had a leadership role in the Canadian Undergraduate Conference on healthcare.